Read it!

Recently I have had some conversation with some individuals about reading the Bible. Personally I am astounded by those who profess their belief in God and yet have never read the Bible all of the way through.

We have an awesome God who created everything that we see, hear, smell, touch, or feel and everything that is hidden from us beyond the realm in which we live and throughout the unseen world. God has chosen to reveal Himself through the Bible and tell us why we were created, define our role in His kingdom and give us the laws that we are to live by. He will not be sitting down and having a cup of coffee with any of us this morning and verbalizing this information and if we want to know more about our Creator, His plans for our life, and our eternal destiny we should read His holy word.

The alternative would be to let someone else who has read the Bible or purports to have read it, (such as a preacher), explain it to us and in effect tell us what to believe about our God. Hmmm. Why would anyone want to do that? Personally I have never wanted to blindly follow someone else’s religious dogma, be it a religious person, politicion, friend, foe, or family member, or worst of all leave it up to my own guesswork as to who God is and what His laws are. I prefer not to put my eternal destiny on the line and into another human being’s hands or even my own.

There are those who question the Bible and its accuracy. Volumes have been written about it. I put my entire belief system in the Bible. I have taken the time to read it numerous times, I have analyzed its prophecies, read and studied all of the arguments pro and con and have come away convinced that it is the unerring word of God. The purpose of this writing today is not to convince you that the Holy Bible is accurate or indeed the inspired word of God, but to encourage you to read it. I would like to offer some suggestions that I have found beneficial in reading and studying it that might make parts of it a little easier to understand.


First I would use a modern translation such as the New King James version, The International version, or my favorite the Living Bible. Stay away from the King James Version because the “thees” and “thous” are great for poetry but tiresome.

It would be my recommendation to start reading the Bible by reading the book of Romans first, and then read the New Testament beginning in the book of Matthew all of the way through the New Testament ending in Revelation, before you read the Old Testament.

You will find that much of the Old Testament, (aside from historical and foundation building), is a mirror image or precursor of what is to come in the New Testament which is devoted to Jesus Christ and His ministry and sacrifice. The begats are in there mainly to establish the lineage of Jesus Christ. I would just skim over them and not get discouraged. Jews are big into that and genealogy is in the Bible and needed in order to establish that Jesus is the Messiah and fulfills the various prophecies that were made concerning His lineage and God’s sacred covenant with Abraham The Revelation is written primarily about things to come and the end times and is near impossible to understand today, but will become more clear as time moves on.

Remember one thing about the Bible, it had to be written in such a manner that the ancient people of thousands of years ago, (and even today), who were mainly uneducated superstitious farmers could understand it, and transcend time to today where we are more sophisticated and educated, have computers, and put people in outer space. Much of the Bible is written figuratively and is relayed in parables, metaphors, and so forth so that all of God’s children could/can understand its basic concepts and laws.

God inspired every word of the Bible and an all-powerful God would simply not allow His only communiqu with His beloved children to become distorted by mortals. Personally I believe He would strike down anyone who attempted it.

The political landscape of mankind will change, but God’s laws never change. One example is homosexuality. It became acceptable in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah just like it is today in San Francisco and much of the world, but it is defined as sin in the Bible and it was sin in those days and is still sin today and will be dealt with accordingly regardless of what is considered to be politically correct by today’s society, or society one thousand years from now.

Admittedly some of the Bible is too difficult or even impossible for us to understand. The Bible states that it was written for different people in different times. Things that make sense to us now in our age such as Israel’s current situation and plight went right over the heads of those ancient civilizations, and things concerning them are likewise to us today.

One example is the civilizations that worshipped the God Moloch. Most of us have never even heard of Moloch, but during ancient times, this belief system was commonly understood just like our modern day religions are readily recognizable today. God hated what those worshippers did because their belief system required that an idol be heated and children burned alive on it as a sacrifice to him. Today unless you study those times it is lost and hence we cannot fully grasp how abominable it was to God and why he wanted to destroy those religions and prevent His chosen people from worshipping idols.

Much in the Bible has to be taken upon faith. Even if we had the intellect, (which we do not), to understand all of the “hows?” and “whys?” it would take millions of volumes to answer all questions.

Reading it all of the way through with an objective mind really worked for me. I know that someone does not have to be some intellectual giant to read it and understand its core message. I know that just the opposite is true. I read it for myself objectively and did not want someone to tell me what I should believe that it says. I hope you feel the same.

When I objectively gave it a read, even though I was a skeptic at the time, I became a believer. I have been studying it for many years now, decades really, and have read every translation of which I have heard and I now attend church wherever the service is based upon the Bible and not some pastor’s hunch.

In many countries you will be executed just for owning a Bible. Here in the U.S., we can read it at our leisure. I encourage you to start today and do not quit until you have read it through. When finished, just start reading it again and studying it every day. The Bible promises that the more that we study it, the more will be revealed to us.

Is. 40:8
The grass withers, the flower
fades,
But the word of our God
stands forever.